President Donald Trump has shared a graphic surveillance video on his Truth Social platform showing a woman being bludgeoned to death with a hammer at a gas station in Fort Myers, Florida. The victim, identified as Yasmin Nilufar, a Bangladeshi immigrant and mother of two, was killed by a man authorities describe as a Haitian immigrant. Trump posted the unblurred footage alongside a caption railing against 'temporary protective status,' though the suspect’s immigration status remains unclear.
The video, originally posted by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in a slightly blurred form, was shared by Trump as he faced scrutiny over his threats to bomb Iran and his wife’s comments on Jeffrey Epstein. The move continues a pattern of using violent imagery attributed to undocumented immigrants to justify mass deportation, a tactic seen during his State of the Union address in January when he highlighted the murder of Ukrainian woman Iryna Zarutska, falsely claiming her killer was an immigrant.
Trump has previously stoked anti-Haitian sentiment, repeating baseless claims that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, were 'eating pets.' Vice-president JD Vance also argued that Haitians with temporary protected status should be considered 'illegal.' The administration’s efforts to revoke such status have been blocked by courts. The DHS has consistently used social media to inflame anti-immigrant sentiment amid a sweeping crackdown that also targets legal immigrants.
The Fort Myers News-Press reported that the suspect, who is unhoused, had attempted to withdraw cash from the store’s ATM and, after failing, demanded money from the clerk. The next day he fatally attacked Nilufar. Samir Syed of the Bangladeshi American Society of South West Florida confirmed Nilufar had lived in the US for about 30 years and had two teenage daughters.
